Against the Wild Read Free Page A

peaks. “It’s better than any picture I’ve ever seen.”
    He relaxed a little. “I hoped you’d like it.” But he hadn’t been completely sure. These days, a lot of people were more interested in texting or playing a game on their iPhones than looking at the scenery.
    Though his ex-wife had been raised in Wyoming and should have been used to the climate and surroundings, she had hated Alaska the minute she’d set foot on the loamy soil.
    Next to him, Lane was still smiling. “I love the mountains,” she said. “I grew up in Illinois farm country, but my mother came from Vermont. She always missed it. The snow on the mountains at Christmas, the scent of pine trees. I guess I must have inherited a little of that love.”
    Of course it was easy to love Alaska in the late spring and summer. The tourist season. It was the rest of the year most people couldn’t handle.
    â€œYour folks still around?” he asked.
    He caught a flash of sadness in her face. “Dad took a job in L.A. and died of a heart attack right after the move. Mom got breast cancer a few months later. I was in college in Chicago. I quit school and moved out to California to take care of her.”
    â€œThat had to be rough.”
    â€œIt was worth it. Over those last few months, Mom and I really got to know each other. I wouldn’t trade the time we spent together for anything.”
    Interesting. He had her pegged as a cooler, less emotional kind of woman. He wondered if that would pose a problem later on. Then again, why should it? Lane was from L.A. No-strings sex was perfectly acceptable there.
    She turned back to the window. “Oh, look at those snow-covered peaks! They seem tall enough to touch the sky.” She grabbed her handbag and started digging frantically around in the bottom. Behind them, Finn moved a little in his seat, then put his head back down and went back to sleep.
    Lane retrieved her digital camera and started snapping away. For the next few minutes she took photo after photo of the incredible view outside the window.
    â€œHow far away is the lodge?”
    â€œIt’s about a hundred miles from Ketchikan to Eagle Bay.”
    She started snapping pictures again as if she wouldn’t have time to get enough. He didn’t tell her the view she was looking at went on for thousands of miles.
    There was only so much a city girl could take.
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    Lane enjoyed the flight to Eagle Bay far more than she had expected. She’d been completely caught up in the incredible scenery, the snow-capped ranges that stretched as far as the eye could see, the islands, one after another in the Inland Passage below the plane. She had even spotted a whale, and Dylan had dipped down so she could get a closer look.
    For a while she’d even been able to forget the unsettling man beside her. Now they were descending, losing altitude, preparing for a water landing in the bay.
    â€œI’ll make a pass over the lodge so you can get a look at what you’ll be dealing with.”
    â€œThat’d be great.”
    The plane dipped, continued its descent, then began to circle over a structure sitting along the shoreline of the bay. The lodge was larger than she had imagined, big and sprawling, a U-shaped building two stories high, one side a little longer than the other.
    â€œThere are two separate wings,” Dylan said. “The smaller one’s for family, the bigger one’s for guests.”
    â€œHow many rooms?”
    â€œFour bedrooms and a master suite on the residential side, ten rooms in the guest wing. We’re knocking out some walls so we’ll end up with two suites and six bedrooms with baths in that wing. There’s a garage underneath. The center of the lodge is the great hall and dining room, a few miscellaneous spaces.”
    â€œIt looks a lot bigger than I imagined when I saw the photos.” She looked down. “Are those